For industrial devices and equipment, computerized inspection from camera images provides very accurate information. However, if the object being inspected is complex (for example, a modern gas turbine machine), and when multiple cameras and multiple configurations of cameras are involved, inspection becomes difficult. Data related to a device that is inspected is often stored in a database. Sometimes, multiple cameras record images of different parts of the device which have to be processed by a processor before being applied to the inspection. An inspector often moves around a large object, such as a turbine that is inspected.
It is often difficult for the inspector to rapidly access, during a walk-around, a powerful computer with data related to the object, especially in an industrial environment of a turbine. This hampers the productivity of inspection.
Another reason for this difficulty is because the devices are large and have complex shapes which can be difficult to analyze without computer support. These machines also have inter-related parts and components that mutually influence each other. For instance, actuating a valve may affect turbine rotator speed, temperature and vibrations, which all may require inspection of different parts at different locations of the machine. Inspection data may be aggregated at a powerful computer. However, it is not efficient for an inspector to have to move between the object and a computer to conduct an inspection.
Accordingly, new and improved systems and methodologies computer assisted hands-free inspection of complex devices are needed.